Manjhi calls on next Bihar CM to honour decisions he took while in office

Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) president and former Bihar chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has allied with the BJP in a bid to oust his bête noire Nitish Kumar, seems to have given up his ambition to be the CM - but wants all of his 34 decisions to be implemented by ‘whoever becomes the CM’.

The 69-year-old Mahadalit leader, who had taken a slew of controversial decisions during his nine-month tenure as chief minister, had said he was not in the chief ministerial race.

“I can give you in writing on a blank paper that I do not wish to be the chief minister,” he said, adding: “What I want is the implementation of my government’s 34 decisions, which had been taken in the interest of the people. I will stand by whoever implements those decisions.”

Former Bihar chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi says his Hindustani Awam Morcha will not merge with the BJP

However, the former CM said it would be better if the BJP declared its chief ministerial candidate after the polls.

Manjhi said he had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an earlier meeting, that the Assembly elections should be fought under the latter’s name.

“Any move to name a new CM candidate may boomerang just like it had happened in the case of Delhi elections,” he added.

Manjhi, who had earlier said he would join any alliance without Nitish Kumar if he was made the CM, also denied rumours that he would be made a Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand and subsequently a Union minister.

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“I have no intentions of becoming a minister and go to the Rajya Sabha. This will undo all the efforts which I put in to oust Nitish from power. Mera missile dhwasht ho jaayega. (My missile will go waste),” he said.

The former chief minister said history would never forgive him if he went to Delhi without accomplishing his mission of removing Nitish from power.

According to him, a decision on contesting the polls will be taken by his party on June 16.

Speaking about his recent meeting with BJP president Amit Shah, Manjhi said his party had decided to join the NDA government with a single aim to oust Nitish from power.

“I have made it clear that our party will not merge with the BJP,” he said, while adding that his party would prefer a seat-sharing with the BJP in an alliance.

Saying that seat-sharing talks would be held shortly, Manjhi said a scrutiny committee had been set up to work out details in this regard.

“We will hold a meeting on Tuesday and later hold realistic talks on seat-sharing with the BJP,” he added.

The Mahadalit leader said his party was in a ‘winnable’ position in several Assembly constituencies of the state.

Manjhi said several Janata Dal-United legislators were in touch with him.

Earlier in the day, two woman Congress leaders — Padmasha Jha and Kiran Sharma — joined the outfit floated by Manjhi.

Nitish had handpicked Manjhi as the chief minister of Bihar after he had resigned taking moral responsibility of the drubbing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Trouble erupted between the two after Manjhi had refused to vacate the CM’s chair, nine months into his stint to pave way for Nitish to be CM again.